The Globalisation of Ethnicity

The global village. That’s one of the terms for the world we live in. A village implies small, a village implies cosy, a village implies that you know 90% of the people in it. That’s a rather strange thing to call a globe with a circumference of 24,901.55 miles or 40,075.16 kilometres. The last thing it is, is small, cosy and there is absolutely no way that anyone knows 90% of the entire population. They would have to start sending Christmas cards out in January and still probably be several years behind.

So why call it the global village if at first glance it appears to be such a misnomer? Its because with rapid advancements in technology and with the manner in which technology has spread and been embraced all over the world, even in the remotest and most rural of parts, people from obscure regions are being brought into contact with others in a way that they never thought possible. Thus we get Inuits from Alaska communicating with Buddhist priests in India. Or Presidents of multibillion-dollar companies chatting to prostitutes from Amsterdam’s Red Light District and I don’t mean in that way either. I mean in an everyday conversation kind of way. Perhaps even getting tips for the stock exchange from them.

The world is smaller in the sense that global communication is easier and more affordable. There is a freer exchange of ideas and cultures among total strangers who previously would never have had the chance to meet. There is a blending of cultures as people pick and choose the aspects of different cultures and religions that they like and want to live by and there are more and more inter--cultural, inter--racial and inter--religious marriages. This has not, as would be expected, increased tolerance towards this blending and mixing, nor have we seen greater tolerance towards religions, races and cultures other than our own. It is hoped that we are moving towards it, but it seems that the movement is slow, and that the glaciers will beat us to it.

Another aspect of the global village phenomenon is that tourism is booming. And its not only the well heeled who are traveling. Kids just out of school looking to explore and have interesting experiences, young people in their 20’s undecided about their careers and looking for adventure, young people in their 30’s wanting a break, the young at heart in their 40’s and 50’s, people of all ages and all life styles travel these days. It’s easy because countries recognise the value of tourism and cater for it. They cater for package tours, families, backpackers and those traveling alone. They meet needs, are friendly and do what they can to help those who feel overwhelmed by being in a foreign country.

The local businesses and artists also take advantage of hapless tourists, slack jawed and bug eyed, gaping at everything they see. Coffee shops and restaurants abound at the most popular places and artists pick good stands to display their wares. In Africa every space on the roadside serves as a market place to display stone and wooden carvings. You can invariably spot tourists because they are the ones walking around carrying large wooden masks or a really tall, carved giraffe and in addition to the bright red sunburn they always look really pleased with themselves, as if they know they got the best deal. How they get those enormous things on the planes and back home, who knows?

Some people have cottoned onto the enormous popularity of African arts and crafts as gifts or simply as part of home décor and have set up import businesses that deal exclusively and personally with artists from Africa, buying directly from them and marketing the products overseas. In scenarios like this it is best to buy from a company that follows a Fair Trade policy and does not take advantage of the artist or exploit him or her in any way. Especially as many of these artists live in countries separate to that of their families so that they can have a chance to earn a better living and send money home. If the company also has an environmental policy then so much the better, especially if that policy includes not using any products that come from endangered wild life.

In this way some truly talented artists that would probably have struggled all their lives to earn a living a put bread on the table, have a chance to achieve a moderate level of fame and their art can be found all over the world from China to London to Alaska. That’s not bad going for a man or woman whose greatest desire is probably to live under the same roof as his or her family permanently.